Paul McCartney's son James on life as the son of a Beatles legend

Thursday, June 20, 2013

It has taken 35 years for James McCartney to step out from his father’s shadow. In his 20s, the son of Beatles legend Paul McCartneyshunned his father, hated his new step-mother and descended into a dark world of drink and drugs.

When he turned to Class A drugs - with terrifying horse tranquiliser ketamine - even his sisters cut ties with him. But that is now all in the past.

His father and the step-mother, one-time model Heather Mills, are divorced, and he has reconciled with his dad and he has found the confidence to finally perform the songs he has been writing since he was 17.

James admits his life was turned upside down when his mother Linda died of breast cancer in 1998 at the family’s ranch in Arizona.

“When I was 20 my mother died and I went off the rails a little bit. I kinda had my slightly dark period,” he says. “I got heavily into Nirvana, a bit of Marilyn Manson, these heavy bands. It was a kind of Goth thing.